Regina Rudd Merrick: Thursday’s Featured Author

Happy Thursday! Where is your favorite vacation spot? Regina Rudd Merrick is giving a tour of hers in Coastal Promises,  a novella collection. Answer the question for a chance to win a Kindle copy. One commenter will be chosen on October 1 st! 

Welcome back, Regina!

My story in the Coastal Promises anthology is “Pawleys Aisle,” so, obviously the setting is Pawleys Island, in South Carolina!

This beautiful spot is between Myrtle Beach and Charleston, on the “Grand Strand,” and while it is an actual island, the zip code also takes in part of the coastal area of Georgetown County.

The island was one of the first resort communities, giving wealthy rice planters in the area a place to send their families during the intense heat of summer when the mosquitoes swarmed with disease. The ocean breezes were the perfect antidote to the dog days of summer in the south!

I chose this area because I love it. I don’t live there, but after our first trip to the area, I fell in love with it. It’s my “If I could live anywhere . . .” place – just ask my husband!

On our first trip to North Litchfield Beach – just across a short causeway from Pawleys Island – we were celebrating my parents’ fortieth anniversary. They’ve celebrated sixteen more since then, and I’ve only been back once, which makes me sad.

What’s so great about the area? First, it isn’t as commercialized as the areas around Myrtle Beach, so if you want a more laid-back experience without a lot of chain restaurants and hotels, this is a great spot. It’s close enough to all that when you want it. Second, the people are wonderful. All you have to do it go to the Hammock Shops and browse around and you’ll meet locals that are either from there, or who came on vacation and then came back to stay! Third? The beach is among the cleanest in the country. Fourth, Huntington Beach State Park and Brookgreen Gardens. They are must-see attractions.

I could go on about how the air feels soft, and the surf sounds of the Atlantic Ocean will lull you to sleep, and about how the restaurant “Gilligan’s” has some of the best artichoke crab dip you’ve ever eaten or that I want so badly to visit a crab cake place that was mentioned on “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,” but you get the idea. It’s a place I dream about when I go to my “happy place,” and I think God led me there when I needed it most.

I like it there. A lot.

While we were there last time, we drove onto the island and I noticed the little white chapel. As I pondered how to integrate my Southern Breeze series characters into this novella, I remembered the chapel, and thought “what if my character bought it and wanted to use it as a wedding chapel,” and the idea stuck.

I hope you enjoy my story. Here’s a little excerpt to introduce you to my characters Chelsea Prince and Marc McCallum!

Honestly, the first time I met Marc McCallum, my first instinct was to try to draw him out of his shell. I mean, he’s a writer. I get it. He’s serious. I get that, too, I suppose. But shouldn’t using your imagination for a living be fun? The wedding-vendor in me, and comments from his beloved Granny Bert, notes that he is single and proud of it. If I hadn’t embraced singleness after my experience with Daniel Rogers, I might notice his good looks in that smart-guy, somewhat-athletic-but-nerdy sort of way, which I usually find attractive. . . But sworn off men I have, so that’s that.

Now what to say? I’m here, at the front door, letter in hand, and I’m speechless. And mad. “Okay, Lord, give me a little calm before I make a fool of myself.” As soon as I knock on the door, I hear frantic barking, and then a masculine voice shout, “Quiet, Muffin!”

I have to snicker. It’s one thing to hear an elderly woman calling her sixty-five pound Golden Retriever “Muffin,” but McCallum?

The door opens and Muffin pushes her way around her new master and sits in front of me, waiting for her hug. “Hey, girl! How’s it going?”

“Miss Prince.” He stands there, all six-foot-lean of him, shoulder hunched on the door frame with his arms crossed, as if I’m a bother he could do without. He looks down at Muffin and frowns a bit. I wonder if he’s jealous of the rapport between me and this big hunk of golden sweetness.

Probably.

Hehe!!!! I love these two!

The blurb for the Coastal Promises collection:

All Yours, Art and Soul by Diane Turpin (debut author!). Beth Kindall’s desire to discover the anonymous buyer of her watercolor painting is complicated by the arrival of architect, Trevor Garrett. Their instant spark upsets Trevor’s realtor who already had her eyes on the newcomer. Can Beth unravel the mysterious buyer, sort out her own commitment issues, and thwart the realtor’s advances on Trevor?

For the Love of Dolphins by Kathy Cretsinger. Sadie Miller inherited one of the dolphin tour boats when her father passed away suddenly. She was determined to make the tour as successful as her father had, even with the problems with her dad’s brother Uncle Joe. When her old middle school flame. Ian Glover returns from England, and her life takes her places she’d never dreamed.

Pawleys Aisle by Regina Rudd Merrick. Leaving a lucrative position in the banking world for the creative world of weddings, Chelsea Prince finds the perfect venue, Pawleys Island Chapel, next door to the perfect walled garden. Her elderly neighbor and partner-in-planning have an agreement, but when the unexpected happens, she has to deal with the cranky grandson who wants to be left alone to write the next great American novel. Since Chelsea has sworn off men, it shouldn’t be a problem to ignore him and go on her way hosting weddings in the chapel. But when Marc McCallum offers up a compromise, she wonders if maybe there is one man out there that can be trusted.

Surf Song by Pam Harris. Dreams don’t always work out as imagined, a fact country music singer Rachelle has learned all too well. Burned out by the demands of her singing career, she flees from Nashville to a quaint inn in the Outer Banks of North Carolina where she hopes to find peace and clarity. Registering under her real name of Holly Bellamy and sporting a new hair color and style to disguise her true identity, she revels in being just a “regular person.” When she and the inn’s owner begin to develop feelings for each other, however, her life takes a turn she never expected.

A little more about Regina…

Regina Rudd Merrick is a writer, church musician, wife, mother, former librarian, and grateful follower of Jesus Christ. Having lived most of her life in Western Kentucky, she dreams of the sound of crashing waves and sandy beaches. Married to her husband of 35-plus years, she is the mother of two grown daughters, and the keeper of a 100-year-old house where she lives in the small town of Marion, KY. She is the author of three books, Carolina Dream (Apr. 2017), Carolina Mercy (July 2018), Carolina Grace (February 2019) in the Southern Breeze Series, and coming Sept. 25 of this year, “Pawleys Aisle,” a Southern Breeze novella in the Coastal Promises collection, published by Mantle Rock Publishing, LLC.

Connect with Regina:

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Regina-R-Merrick-512257938964888/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Twitter: https://twitter.com/trmerrick64

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reginamerrick/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/rmerrick/

Website: https://www.reginaruddmerrick.com

Publisher Website: https://mantlerockpublishing.com/

 Purchase Links:

http://bit.ly/CoastalPromises (Kindle)

http://bit.ly/CoastalPromisesPB (paperback)